Women and Work

Women and Work is Massey University's School of Management's newly formed Special Interest Group. It exists to build on current research expertise to create energy and build synergies around this broad research area.

We will seek to profile Women and Work research to internal and external stakeholders and through that we will increase our attractiveness as a base for academic research and postgraduate study in this area. We will also provide a platform for fostering connections with external stakeholders.

Women and Work members

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Jim joined Massey as a Professor in the School of Management in 2008. His broad interest in the management of people at work means that he has researched and published across a portfolio of areas to do with Human Resource Management and Industrial Relations. Key areas of expertise include employee engagement, variable pay, and flexible working time. Over the past few years, Jim has also acted as a consultant for the International Labour Organization, advising Pacific Island governments on issues such as the regulation of child labour, seasonal work and employment law.

Jo is Associate Head of School in the School of Management in the College of Business at Massey University (Manawatu campus). She teaches small business management and entrepreneurship, innovation and creativity and also contributes to papers within Massey's MBA programme.

Jane is Professor of Employment Relations & HRM. Her research foci include comparative employment relations, equality in work organisations, and employee voice and consultation. She lectured and researched at Warwick (UK), Auckland and AUT universities before joining Massey. Jane is co-leading a research team on the Living Wage in NZ and another on executive education. She has (co-)led a range of ILO-funded projects on employment policy/regulation in PNG, Fiji, Nauru & other Pacific Island nations. She is a panellist in the 2018 PBRF round (as in 2012). Jane is the 2017 HRINZ HR Researcher of the Year.

All things to do with leadership interest me, along with an abiding interest in how we can make organisations both effective for external stakeholders and enjoyable places to work for employees.

My doctoral research examined why and how it has become normalized in recent decades to equate 'leadership' with grandiose expectations of 'transformation', 'vision', and 'charisma'. I argue these ideas, when examined closely, actually create undesirable pressures on leaders, grant them excessive powers, and rely on the problematic assumption that 'followers' are inherently inadequate.I am interested in theorising and practising leadership in ways that are more inclusive and humble.

Publications and projects

Gender, Work & Organization Conference

The Women and Work SIG is pleased to announce that it is convening the Working Women’s Progression and Experiences in Context Stream for the upcoming Gender, Work & Organization 10th Biennial International Interdisciplinary Conference to be held in Sydney 13-16 June 2018. Abstracts are due November 1. Please see the above attached document for more information, or contact Professor Jane Parker (J.Parker@massey.ac.nz).

Projects

Professors Jane Parker and Jim Arrowsmith are currently undertaking a research project on diversity and career management in collaboration with The Warehouse Group.

Young Women in Leadership Programme

The lack of women in leadership positions is a vexing and persistent problem that Massey University management Professor Sarah Leberman has spent her career researching and trying to solve. Her latest initiative, the Young Women’s Leadership Programme, aims to reach young women before they leave school.

Each year, the programme brings around 200 Year 12 students together on the university’s three campuses to learn about leadership and build their confidence and networks. The students are divided into groups to work on delivering a project that makes a difference to their local community.

ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

The Women and Work group has a broad member base, representing and equally broad range of disciplines within the study of management. Below you can find a selection of published research with a relevance to gender in the workplace:

Dr Palmer also ran a workshop on Leadership Diversity at the NZ Women in Leadership Programme (21 June 2016). This incorporated concepts such as tūrangawaewae, whakapapa, mauri and kaupapa and how this provide acknowledgement of the experiences and values diverse women can bring to the leadership role.

Contact

For initial enquiries concerning the Women and Work group, please contact Associate Head of School Dr. Jo Bensemann.

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Last updated on Friday 29 September 2017